


Some Fairytale Bliss

by aurons_fan



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M, Post-Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-20 22:37:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14271018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurons_fan/pseuds/aurons_fan
Summary: Riku contemplates his new hair cut while waiting for Sora to come back.Post Dream Drop Distance.





	Some Fairytale Bliss

**Author's Note:**

> I have this weird thing about Riku and/or Sora being unable to sleep due to thinking about the past. I think I've written about it like...five times.
> 
> O well.
> 
> Thank you S for the beta, albeit my usage of 'albeit' shall perturb you. :D
> 
> Title from "Something Just Like This" in my attempt to title things after songs I'm listening to at the moment. I regret nothing.

Riku stared at himself in the mirror. He reached up to run a hand through his now incredibly short hair, but lowered it instead. It looked… He looked… _different._

It wasn’t bad; he didn’t _hate_ it. In fact, it was almost like the change helped to put everything he’d done in the past behind him. He almost felt as though there was no way he could be the person who gleefully laughed when Sora almost died - that guy had long hair!

Still, Riku stared at the ends of his hair like they’d personally affronted him. Despite all that, he _did_ like having long hair. If nothing else, it had made training a lot less stressful when he could just put it up and not think about it.

Or when Sora used to run his hands through it mindlessly, like he just enjoyed giving Riku head massages.

Or when Sora used to grip Riku’s hair when they’d--

“Riku, do you know… oh goddammit. Not again.” Riku spun away from the mirror to see Kairi standing in the doorway, a hand on her hip. “Seriously? Do you think Sora will just come back from his travels faster if you mope long enough?”

He didn’t roll his eyes - that would be rude - but the way he pushed away from the desk was a little more than forceful. “What’s up, Kairi?”

She sighed. “I was wondering if you knew where Lea’d run off to. The little shit keeps _avoiding me_ , like if I can’t find him, I won’t kick his ass.” She leaned against the doorway, frowning a little. “But seriously. You’re moping again.”

Riku brushed a piece of hair out of his face and tried to not react when it simply went back to where it had started. “I’m fine. Want me to help you hunt him down?”

They stared at each other for a long moment, before Kairi pushed off from the doorway and approached him. She reached a hand up towards his face, and he watched her as she brushed a hand through his hair.

“Riku,” she said. He lowered his head. She sighed again, gently pushing a hand against his against his chest. “It doesn’t matter. You could still have your hair and your terrible fashion sense, but you’ve _changed_. You’re not that same person anymore.”

“My fashion sense wasn’t _that_ bad,” Riku muttered, ignoring the way his face seemed to heat up. She always knew how to cut straight through to whatever was bothering him, and it used to annoy him. But now, he was just grateful.

“Your fashion sense was fucking awful,” she said, her tone just as calm. “As was Sora’s. Thank god one of you grew out of it.” She leaned back, as if examining him from head to toe. After a moment, she rested a hand on his cheek. “You wouldn’t be a Keyblade Master if you were the same Riku as before.”

He shrugged, tucking his hands into his pockets. “Yeah, I know.”

She smiled and gave him a quick hug. “Good. Now, stop moping. Yensid said he promises that Sora’s coming back soon and I want to beat Axel into a pulp before then!”

“Lea,” Riku corrected. Kairi shrugged innocently and left the room.

Riku turned back to the mirror, running his hands through his hair.  How many times had Kairi tried to talk sense to him about his hair?

He shrugged and left the room to follow her.

Hopefully, she wouldn’t _actually_ kill Lea.

\---

Riku couldn’t sleep.

It was the middle of the night, and he’d already watched the moon climb higher and higher in the sky. He was tempted to go outside and train, but he’d done that once and accidentally set off the alarms in the tower, and wasn’t _that_ fun, trying to explain to a half awake Yensid that Riku couldn’t sleep. There was something about a pissed off old wizard glaring at you at three in the morning that easily discouraged you from leaving the tower ever again.

But he was too tired to actually stand or pace, so instead he watched the moon and… fuck.

_Fuck._

He hated this. Every single fucking night, he _hated_ this, but what else was he supposed to do? Even if he could contact Sora, (which he couldn't, thank _you,_ Yensid), Riku’d just be distracting him from his mission. But shit.

There was a light knock on the door. Riku ignored it, turning onto his side. Just his luck that Lea had been caught by Kairi and now wanted someone to heal his many, _many_ wounds. (Kairi was always a bit of a monster when it came to Lea.)

The door slowly creaked open, and Riku rolled his eyes. “Go away, Lea. It’s not my fault that Kairi beat the shit out of you for ditching practice again.”

Instead of Lea whining how Kairi was being _insane_ and _so MEAN Riku you don’t understand!_ , there was a laugh. One so familiar that Riku’s heart stopped for a second.

“Nah, I’m not Lea. But I’m not surprised Kairi keeps kicking his ass.”

Riku could play it cool - he could, _really_ \- but the time for playing it cool was not _now_ , because holy shit. He threw off the covers and approached the door, trying to not let his features show just how excited he was.

And then he stopped, scrubbing a hand down his face. “Fuck,” he muttered. “Of course Sora wouldn’t be back.” He looked around at the walls, impressed. “I didn’t think my dreams were this realistic.”

But hey, after dropping through dreams, they probably were.

The person in front of him pouted. Riku hesitated. Maybe this wasn’t a dream. “I’m real, you jerk,” Sora said.

Riku clenched his fists, the only way to keep himself from touching Sora, to pull him into hug or just even creepily caressing his cheek because holy shit, Sora was _here_. It wasn’t like he’d dreamed of this happening for the past few weeks, months (okay, he had), but now that it was happening, he wasn’t sure what to do.

“Hi,” he said.

That sounded like a good choice. _Hi_. It was damn near poetry.

Sora rolled his eyes and pushed past Riku into the room, whistling as he spun around. “Damn,” he said, arms wide. “This is what you get when you become Keyblade Master, huh?”

Riku took a step forward, unsure of what to say. “Uh, yeah,” he said.

Wow, he was just killing it today.

But Sora’s excitement with the room gave Riku the chance to inspect him. It had only been a few months, but Sora had changed. His muscles had filled out, and any remaining baby fat that had stubbornly lingered on his cheeks had melted away. He had a few new scars that Riku could see on criss-crossing on his arm, as well as a fresh wound on Sora’s face.

Before Riku could stop himself, he approached Sora, placing one hand on his cheek near the new cut. Sora stopped gazing around to look up at Riku, giving a faint smile.

“It’s a lot easier to get hurt when it’s just you” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Remind me to not complain about Donald’s healing time again.”

Riku didn’t rise to the bait. Normally, he might have said something unsavory about Sora’s choice in healing companions. But all Riku wanted to do right now was just inhabit the same space, hell, breathe the same air as Sora.

But like - not be creepy about it.

That was the thing with Sora - they had been in each other’s pockets for basically their entire lives and could almost read each other’s thoughts. So when Sora leaned in and rested his forehead against Riku’s chest, Riku just let out the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

“I’m alright, you dork,” Sora said softly. “And of course I missed you.”

“Yeah,” Riku said. He could finally control his hands, and tugged Sora close. “Same. Don’t do that again.”

Sora snorted. “You know, neither of us can promise that,” he said. His voice had this solemn edge that Riku rarely heard. He decided he wasn’t going to comment on it.

“We can send Kairi to do any Keyblade Master stuff,” Riku said. “Her and Lea make an excellent team - she could set him on fire and he could run around and set _other_ things on fire. Really. That’s the kind of teamwork anyone could only wish they could achieve.”

He was rambling, he knew, but it just felt so _nice_ to hold Sora.

Riku could practically hear Sora rolling his eyes as he moved back. There was a bit of hesitation in Sora’s movements, but eventually he carded his hands through Riku’s hair.

“I miss your old hair,” Sora said, with a small smile. “But I do really dig this look.”

Riku rolled his eyes, ignoring the way his heart kind of melted at Sora’s smile.  “I’m going to bed. It’s late.”

Riku moved to step away. Sora’s hand slowly dropped, and Riku pretended like he didn’t already miss.

“Yeah, yeah,” Sora said, following behind. “You Keyblade Masters and your need for sleep.”

They managed to both fit onto the bed, not unlike when they were kids. Tangles of limbs everywhere, with Sora resting against Riku’s arm while Riku felt like he was only still on the bed by the grace of gravity. But Sora exhaled against Riku’s chest, and all weirdly felt right in the world.

They lay there, for what felt like to Riku hours, until Sora leaned back, letting out a sigh. “I’m sorry.”

Riku glanced down, but Sora’s eyes were closed. “For what?”

Sora shrugged and cuddled into Riku’s side. But Riku was patient, gently caressing Sora’s arm.

But that gave him pause, because there were more wounds and scars on there than he’d initially seen. More than he remembered from all their journeys together, if he was being honest. What had happened in these past few months?

He knew reacting badly would just annoy Sora, so Riku said nothing. He might have tugged Sora closer to him.

Sora sighed, nudging his head against Riku’s chest. “I shouldn’t have messed up.” Riku’s hand stilled but Sora continued like Riku hadn’t reacted. “It’s no one’s fault but my own, giving into the darkness, but i still feel like I should’ve been more on top of it.”

So this was how Kairi must feel everytime Riku brought up his own mistakes. “Sora,” Riku began, racking his brain for what he usually said during this argument.

But Sora didn’t give him a chance to talk. “I know,” he said. “I know, but just because it isn’t true, doesn’t mean I don’t _feel_ that way. I wouldn’t have had to leave you guys if I just hadn’t fucked up.”

“Sora,” Riku repeated. He stared down until Sora finally glanced up at him. “Sora, it…”

He wasn’t going to lie. He just…

Whatever he was going to say disappeared and he shrugged, leaning his head against the pillow. “It does suck. Even if you didn’t mean to give in, even if you did it because you thought it would help people, you can still hear your victims screams when you try to sleep,” Riku said, his voice soft.

Sora froze. “Well, that’s not what I thought you were going to say,” he admitted.

“But,” Riku continued. “That’s why I surrounded myself with people like you, and Kairi, and everyone else. Because to wake up from the nightmare knowing I’ve done horrible things but also having someone to turn to… That’s what makes a little better.” He poked the side of Sora’s head. Sora grumbled, but moved closer. “So like, if you feel like shit, we’re here, okay? Neither Kairi nor I will ever judge you for mistakes like that.”

Riku didn’t mean to make a grand sweeping gesture or anything. He was… just being honest. Maybe in another time or another place, he would’ve sugar coated it, but good lord - it was Sora. Sora who he’d attempted to kill so many times over, Riku was beginning to lose count. But also the Sora who never gave up on him.

The Sora who was now quietly crying into Riku’s shirt.

Riku made to sit up, but Sora shook his head. “No,” Sora said. Riku could faintly see Sora scrubbing at his eyes. “No, I just… Can we go to sleep? Maybe in the morning, I can deal with this but right now… Riku, don’t make me?”

If it wasn’t the middle of the night, he might have fought this. Tug Sora closer and demand they talk, like how Sora used to do for him when Riku would fall apart.

But it _was_ far too early for this. The moonlight streamed in through the window, illuminating the entire room. If he was being honest, when he woke up, Riku might not even remember this conversation.

The memory of it though. The feeling of watching Sora cry helplessly and not being able to help… that would probably be burned into his mind forever.

But for now, he kissed the top of Sora’s head, and lay back down. “Tomorrow,” he promised.

Sora nodded against his chest, and Riku closed his eyes.


End file.
